Who was the last Pistons draft pick to live up to the hype?
We're hyping Cheikh, Amir, but they haven't really shown much other than the potential. I sure hope that we're here correct in the assesment and that they will be significant contributors within the next couple of years. Imagine a front lineup that has Tay, Cheikh, and Amir.

Acker was considered a sleeper with the last pick in the draft. I remember recently reading at Pistons.com that the org. considers him one of the two best Americans playing in Europe. If you haven't seen him play much, the kid is a flat out baller with all of the measurables (jumping, size, wingspan).

Maxiell was considered a reach. If you re-ranked the draft today, I think he moves up 4 or 5 spots.

Might as well add Amir Johnson to the list. He's being spoken of as a lottery pick in this year's deep draft and we picked him up at the 56th pick. Easily one of the top 5 players in the D-League when half of the guys in the 2005 draft cannot say that two years later.

The Knicks would be lucky to resign Cato, and give him whatever minutes they gave to Jerome James. For his career he doesn’t block shots as often as James (2.6 to 3.2 blk/40), but he commits less fouls (5.1 to 8.3 pf/40), turnovers (1.7 to 3.4 pf/40), and is a better rebounder (10.8 to 9.2 reb/40). Unfortunately Isiah has James signed until 2010, so James will eat up the deep bench center minutes. Most likely next season Cato will find a team that will actually play him.

Brian Cronin: Looking back, I guess the market out there for Kelvin Cato just wasn’t as big as one would think, because why else would he sign with the Knicks? Talent-wise, it’s a great fit, as Cato is the type of strong defender that the Knicks really could use (and he can still move quick enough that he could hang with the Lees and Balkmans of the world…well, maybe not, but still better than Curry! In other words, this isn’t a big stiff we’re talking about here), but manpower-wise, he had to know he wasn’t going to get to play, so I guess no other team had a need for him, which is too bad, as I think he could help out a number of teams. I really liked what little we saw of him this year. But yeah, any grade other than “Incomplete” would be silly here.

Acker was considered a sleeper with the last pick in the draft. I remember recently reading at Pistons.com that the org. considers him one of the two best Americans playing in Europe. If you haven't seen him play much, the kid is a flat out baller with all of the measurables (jumping, size, wingspan).

Maxiell was considered a reach. If you re-ranked the draft today, I think he moves up 4 or 5 spots.

Might as well add Amir Johnson to the list. He's being spoken of as a lottery pick in this year's deep draft and we picked him up at the 56th pick. Easily one of the top 5 players in the D-League when half of the guys in the 2005 draft cannot say that two years later.

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I agree but its not going to do us any good unless Flip plays these guys. Every year we see Dumars make these picks and then follow it up by signing a Flip Murry type vet to take all their mins.

Then the post-season comes along and the Flip Murry types lose most of their mins, young guys watch the games in suits and we go back to the usual short rotations.

I agree but its not going to do us any good unless Flip plays these guys. Every year we see Dumars make these picks and then follow it up by signing a Flip Murry type vet to take all their mins.

Then the post-season comes along and the Flip Murry types lose most of their mins, young guys watch the games in suits and we go back to the usual short rotations.

I am sick of it man.

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this is one of the most demoralising things about being a fan of this team. you see it all season long. I used up all my faith in this system over the past two years and I want to see a different approach.

This team will contend for a title next year if Joe D. does what is smart. It's not the team that makes this team lose. It's the approach to how this team plays. Here is what has happened the last 2 years.

No dicipline
Same guys playing
No energy
Shut down in the post season after game plan is figured out.

Joe must get someone who won't back down from a player and tell it like it is. Joe must have a great draft, and the young guys must be played.

If this happens you will see execution and no slacking off. If the starters play 40 minutes there will always be a point in the game where a drought occurs. Need to get a youthful bench to dominate the other bench. The pieces are there and have been there.

I don't believe that this team is too old to win it all. It just appears that way because all the Pistons do is play the older guys. 20-30 mpg for the starters next year, no joke.

I agree, its not a question of skill, BB IQ, or anything else, its attitude and utilization of personnel. We have the pieces to win, its just using the pieces the right way.

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I agree, except for the Center position. We DO NOT have the pieces there to win a championship. Webber did not perform well in the playoffs and he is definitely over the hill. The Pistons need to address the center position either via draft (Tiago Splitter, Spencer Hawes) or free agency (Marcus Camby). Too bad we traded Darko Milicic. We could really use him right about now. Same with Memet Okur. lol.

I agree, except for the Center position. We DO NOT have the pieces there to win a championship. Webber did not perform well in the playoffs and he is definitely over the hill. The Pistons need to address the center position either via draft (Tiago Splitter, Spencer Hawes) or free agency (Marcus Camby). Too bad we traded Darko Milicic. We could really use him right about now. Same with Memet Okur. lol.

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I agree. The Pistons need a true center. Webber is a PF, Ben is a PF, Sheed is a PF, and Dice is a PF. Nazr just won't get the job done. He did win a championship in San Antonio but he had Tim Duncan over there.

The Pistons starting lineup needs a big 7 footer who goes inside. The Pistons starters slow the game down and win through execution. Eventually the jumpers by Dice and Sheed won't fall. Pistons need a 7 footer inside.

As for the bench they can go small ball. I expect the bench to pick up the tempo. Hopefully these guys get to play though. Right now the bench should look something like this:

Draft pick
Delfino
J Max
Amir
Dice

I expect some changes in their though either through the draft, trades, or free agency.